Text Size

Asked if she rides Metro, Democratic Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said her busy schedule and where she lives mean she’s not boarding a bus or train the way many of her constituents do on a daily basis.

Norton said she lives only nine blocks from the Capitol and simply walks to and from work. But even on weekends, you won’t find her looking for a seat on the train.

“On weekends, I am going from Northwest to Southeast and being pulled, really, and being always late going from one meeting to the other,” she said. Between the hectic weekend schedule and the fact that some parts of the District aren’t near a train station, Norton said she sticks to driving and walking.

Of course, complaining about Metro’s crowded trains, broken escalators and bunched buses is a favorite pastime for Washington residents — and don’t even get them started about Rush Plus. But Norton’s Metro-riding colleagues give the system mostly glowing reviews.

Metro’s congressional riders run the gamut from Oregon liberals to conservatives from the Midwest and Florida. Some come from cities with new or established transit systems while others come from rural areas where a bus line or two might be the only transit choices.

“I’ve had nothing but positive experiences with it,” said West Virginia Rep. Nick Rahall, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s top Democrat. “I don’t do it as a normal routine, but I have ridden it many times,” he said, adding that he’s “highly favorably impressed with it as a secure mode of transportation, a clean mode of transportation, obviously a quick mode of transportation.”

“I take it all the time,” said Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), the committee’s former chairman. “It’s just quicker to get around sometimes. It’s safe. I take it to the airport.”

Mica, who held the committee’s top GOP spot for the past six years, is also a mass transit fan back home — even though transit’s a hit-or-miss proposition for most of Florida. He once even signed off on a transit funding announcement from the back seat of a bus.

“I take bus 41 sometimes home in Orlando, and I’m probably the only member of Congress to announce transportation grants from the back seat of a public bus,” he said. “When I was going home, they called me and said, ‘We’ve got some announcements,’ and I said, ‘Just wire them in.’”

Washington’s rail system, which opened in 1976 with a single five-stop downtown route, now ferries hundreds of thousands of people every day.

Two stops are within walking distance of the Capitol, making it convenient for lawmakers who want an alternative to the city’s notorious traffic woes.

Still, these Metro-riding members are in the minority. Many senators and representatives are driven to the Hill or simply walk from row houses located on the prime real estate that surrounds the Capitol.